Endoscopic Assisted Eyebrow Craniotomy for Anterior Cranial Fossa Lesions: Clinical and Cosmetic Outcomes

Background: The eyebrow supraorbital keyhole approach could be considered a modified minimally invasive model for the classic pterional subfrontal approach in which an eyebrow incision and supraorbital mini craniotomy are performed for exposure of the anterior cranial fossa corridor. Methods: This study was retrospectively conducted on twenty four patients, age ranging from 20 to 65 years old, with anterior cranial fossa lesions who were meeting the eligibility criteria for eyebrow craniotomy in the period from August 2019 to January 2023. These patients were operated through eyebrow supraorbital approach in which microscopic endoscopic assisted technique were used. Extent of resection, clinical and cosmetic outcomes and complication incidence were assessed. Results: We included the twenty four patients who met inclusion criteria (17 females and 7 males) their ages ranged from 20 to 65 years. The most common pathology was meningioma in 19 patients. Two patients experienced supraorbital loss of sensation and only one patient experienced palsy of frontalis branch of facial nerve. Frontal sinus was breached in 3 patients with no patient experienced postoperative CSF leak. Total excision was accomplished for 23 patients. Four patients who had preoperative visual compromise, improvement of visual acuity and field defects was observed in 3 patients. No major intraoperative complications occurred. All patients filled cosmetic satisfaction questionnaire during their outpatient visits. For the eyebrow supraorbital approach, no incision related intolerable pain, no craniotomy defects or irregularities, no cosmetic complaints nor limitation of jaw opening were reported, and only minor symptoms in the form of limited eyebrow elevation, swelling and numbness in the forehead. Conclusions: The eyebrow craniotomy could be used safely as a more cosmetic and minimally invasive approach for a variety of anterior cranial fossa lesions. Endoscopic assistance has been found very useful for deeply seated lesions and hidden residuals with minimal brain retraction which couldn’t be accessed easily through microscopic field solely. Endoscopic assisted eyebrow supraorbital keyhole approach could be performed on a wider scale with great results but requires good selection of cases and more practice to expertise the needed skills.

Successful treatment of an enormous rectal mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma by endoscopic full-thickness resection:A case report

BACKGROUND Colorectal mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma(MALToma),a rare kind of nongastric MALToma,lacks consensus on its endoscopic features and standard therapies.According to previous studies on the clinical characteristics and outcomes of colorectal MALToma,endoscopic resection remains a good therapeutic strategy.CASE SUMMARY A 71-year-old woman suffered intermittent hematochezia for 1 mo,accompanied with abdominal pains but without weight loss,fever,chills or fatigue.Colonoscopy showed a massive hemispheric mass with rough and hyperemic mucosa in the lower rectum.Narrow-band imaging magnifying endoscopy detected some branching abnormal blood vessels and disappearance of glandular structure,which was similar with the tree-like appearance sign in gastric MALToma.Endoscopic ultrasonography revealed the lesion to be hypoechoic,boundary-defined,and echo uniform inside,originating from the muscularis propria.Abdominal enhanced computed tomography(CT)demonstrated a soft tissue mass with defined boundary.No enlarged superficial lymph nodes were detected by B-mode ultrasound.C13-urea breath test and serum Helicobacter pylori antibody were both negative.The patient underwent endoscopic full-thickness resection.Postoperative pathological analysis indicated colorectal MALToma.The patient remained asymptomatic after discharge,and follow-up positron emission tomography–CT and colonoscopy showed no residual lesion,remnants or lymph node metastasis.CONCLUSION This case provides new information on the specific endoscopic features of colorectal MALToma and an alternative treatment for patients.

Endoscopic treatment for acute appendicitis with coexistent acute pancreatitis: Two case reports

BACKGROUND Appendectomy is the procedure of choice for the treatment of acute appendicitis.However,surgery may not be appropriate for patients with coexisting severe illness or comorbidities such as acute pancreatitis(AP).Endoscopic retrograde appendicitis treatment(ERAT)may be a novel alternative to surgery for treating such patients where existing medical therapies have failed.CASE SUMMARY We report 2 cases of moderately severe AP who developed acute uncomplicated appendicitis during their hospital stay and did not respond to traditional medical therapy.One patient had moderately severe AP due to hyperlipidemia,while the other patient had a gallstone induced by moderately severe AP.Neither patient was fit to undergo an appendectomy procedure because of the concurrent AP.Therefore,the alternative and minimally invasive ERAT was considered.After written informed consent was collected from the patients,the ERAT procedure was performed.Both patients exhibited fast postoperative recovery after ERAT with minimal surgical trauma.CONCLUSION ERAT is a safe and effective minimally invasive endoscopic procedure for acute appendicitis in patients with coexistent AP.

Surgical instruments hyalinization:Occlusion removal in minimally invasive endoscopic surgery

Minimal invasion is an important trend in surgery.However,the endoscope,as one of the key devices for monitoring the process of minimally invasive surgery,is limited by its size and working space it operates in,which result in a considerably narrow field of view.In particular,when a surgical instrument enters through the tool channel,the instrument occupies most of the area in an endoscopic image.This hampers the surgeon’s field of view and has a negative impact on the surgery.This study proposes a novel method for removing the occlusion caused by surgical instruments in endoscopic images by making foreground occlusions on endoscopic images transparent using image restoration and interframe information filling.Compared with unprocessed images,this method can provide a clearer field of view that is necessary for minimally invasive endoscopic surgeries and improve the quality of surgeries.Clinical endoscopic images are used to verify the feasibility of the proposed method,and the results show that the proposed method improves the visual effect of endoscopic images by removing surgical-instrument occlusions.This demonstrates the considerable potential of the proposed method for use in clinical applications.